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The Pale
The Pale is a part of our Lexicon used to describe the astral plane and the residents, notable spirit, and places we've found therein. The Pale isn't an easy place to get into. Most Psychics don't seem to have any trouble getting there but mages often have to struggle because of the need to find the proper ritual that allows them to get there. Agents without any magickal prowess or psychic ability can't get there at all; they have to rely on Cabal mates to open the correct 'way' and act as guides and escorts. Admittedly, we don't often make prolonged journeys or stays in The Pale. It can be an exceptionally dangerous place but often times the allure of those places that are beautiful, wonderful, and exciting are simply too much to be ignored. The Pale is, and remains, a fantastic place for exploration. Many of our magickal agents also state that they find their magickal rituals and incantations work much quicker and easier within The Pale, which suggests to me that there is a direct link between The Pale, Magick, and our material world. It's entirely possible that The Pale is the wellspring of Magickal energy. This theory warrants more research. The following database offers agents a rough guide in traversing The Pale and seeing new places. What Is The Pale? The Pale is the astral realm, so named because when one enters The Pale without a specific location in mind the out of body experience leads on into an immense and formless space. The projector will find themselves floating gently in an area of light grey. The environment is warm enough to be comfortable. From this starting point explorers may find themselves encountering other astral projectors, spirit entities traversing from one location to another, or pathways and doors that link to Pale Realms. Astral Projectors have reported hearing distant music in The Pale and/or witnessing The Pale present itself as huge, endless, rolling banks of cumulonimbus clouds. Admittedly, this starting point can be a little blase, but when one begins active explorations of various Pale Realms things can really pick up steam. Pale Realms Autumn: Wiccans are credited with bringing this realm to the attention of The Darklight Society during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Many men and women faced imprisonment and death during this time and of those, many whom actually were Wiccans fled for Autumn. Sarah Goode, one of the original accused, detailed this realm and gave us the directions and means of how to travel there. The realm happens to be Templar Urquidez's favorite realm. Autumn is a Pale Realm of perpetual Fall. The air is redolent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice drifting along with gentle breezes that also carry the aroma of ripe pumpkins and smoldering leaves. The climate is temperate, with short days and long nights. Sometimes a gentle rain falls, and the temperature never gets about 72 degrees or colder than 40 degrees as night. There is no modern technology, and human habitations are no more than beautiful cottages and small houses which could be found anywhere in rural Ireland or New England. There are very few dangers for the explorer here. The majority of the population is human with cultures of varying time periods: well dressed Puritan gentlemen can be found having coffee with modern Wiccans, while a lady from 1985 might decide to marry into a family of Quakers that have lived here since the seventeenth century. Like all places within the astral real,m time has no meaning here, and pain and disease are things of distant, bad memories. Spirit entities live here as well, the vast majority of them being nature sprites but there are also some naughty fae such as impish Cornish pizkies or loud but harmless tiny goblins. Autumn is a beautiful realm and well worth the trip. The Dreamlands: The Dreamlands are a vast, possibly endless, parallel dimension that for all intents and purposes is the creation of all of the dreams of every living creature on earth, and perhaps even beyond it. It has its own geology and principles of physics. It is largely a malleable realm, save those areas that are pockets of habitation which usually take the form of large metropoli or countrysides. Those agents we have that have set out to map out and explore the Dreamlands find their efforts largely frustrated because of the fluid nature of the place: kingdoms and empires rise and fall overnight, landscapes change, and hubs of population relocate apparently at whim. Despite these characteristics there are some areas that never seem to change or alter and stay to a particular theme. These are the Windmill City kingdom which seems to act as the seat of government for the whole realm, the Scorch which feeds physical and sexual fantasies, and the Kingdoms of Grass, Willows, Northern Ice, Feathered Snake, White Sands, Apples, and the Empire of Turtles. Some of our Astraea insist quite strongly that there are no other Pale Realms but that everything beyond the grey fog is really just the Dreamlands. Gates of Nightmare: Avoid! Danger, danger Will Robinson! This gate is not subtle, it's hard to mistake and makes no attempts to conceal where it leads. The gate is a door frame of black basalt carefully inscribed with horrific images of monsters, demons, and sleepers in their beds being tormented. The door itself is solid black, with a gold knob in the direct center. When our hapless traveler opens the door, he--YOU--will be sucked into the Realm of Nightmare. I won't go into detail about this horrific realm but to say that it is a realm of pure horror and chaos, populated by very unlucky dreamers and the demons that torment them. The denizens of the Nightmare Realm are all malicious, all malevolent towards humans, and all viscous. This is not a realm that Apostate agents should make any attempt to enter without experienced guides and allies familiar with the terrors beyond the Gates of Nightmare. Nightward: A Pale Realm that we are intimately familiar with, likely the source for The Dread. For that reason, a separate dossier for it has been prepared. The Howling, so named because of the way winds whip through the long multiple stretches of corridor, is the primary junction through the Pale and to dozens of other Pale Realms. However, there is a caveat: only those that have somehow been touched by death--such as witnessing the death of a loved one, having a near-death experience, etc--can traverse this corridor with ease. Others find it a much more difficult proposition, as the winds are strong enough to cause a 200 lbs. man to slow to a crawl and forces such travelers to make use of the many handholds bolted into the walls.